


I Would Have Fallen Into The Dark For You

by ironfamjam



Series: Tumblr Prompts Collection [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Iron Dad, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-02 03:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17879834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironfamjam/pseuds/ironfamjam
Summary: Prompt: "Wasn't I worth a goodbye?"Peter knows it's wrong. But they hurt Tony. And he won't be stopped.





	I Would Have Fallen Into The Dark For You

He finds Peter on the roof. He’s wearing his stealth suit. The one Tony had made during one of his late night deliriums where he could pretend he could fix every single one of his fears with the right kind of invention. A perfect solution embedded in electrical innovation. 

He remembers making that suit. Sleek, dark, fit with a noise canceling textile on its boots and gloves. There were smoke pellets hidden in the utility belt, devices to short circuit security systems, cannisters of web fluid. The suit had no tracker, no AI, no internet connected center making it unhackable and untraceable. It was a perfect suit for a perfect crime.

Peter still hasn’t noticed him yet and Tony tries to keep it that way but when he twists to close the door, something tears inside him. He groans, hand snapping to his waist as he presses into the wound he’s not one hundred percent certain isn’t reopening. Well one out of three, that’s not so bad. But his pain jolts Peter out of his reverie and when he turns around, he pulls the mask off his face and Tony can see the fear in his eyes. “Mr. Stark!” the kid almost sounds like he wants to cry.

Good, Tony thinks. Good. Because feelings are better than the numbness Tony swears he saw in those same eyes before. 

“Mr. Stark you shouldn’t be here.” And just like that, the distance is back, the hardness so uncustomary on Peter’s face.

There are edges to Peter’s face Tony’s never noticed before. The cut of his jaw, the shadows on his brows, the unforgivable slant of his mouth. There are monsters that lurk within Peter Parker. Monsters raging against locks that had finally been eroded. 

All it took was for Tony to die. 

_“Mr. Stark Mr. Stark Mr. St- no, no no, this can’t be happening, no. Someone!” Peter looks around frantically, hands shaking, “SOMEBODY PLEASE! Help him,” his voice cracks into something so small, “somebody please help him.”_

_“Mr. Stark you gotta- you gotta stay awake. For me. Please you have to- no, no no no don’t close your eyes. No Mr. Stark please! Look at me! LOOK AT ME!”_

_Peter’s yelling at him. He sounds so afraid. Tony wants to help him. He wants to- he wants to help but he can’t- he can’t-_

_Tony can’t see. His vision is dotty, black rippling through the edges. He’s not even quite sure if he’s feeling. But there’s a gushing heat on his torso and something sticky covering his hands and the floor. There are sirens blaring in the distance. The smell of copper everywhere. Something cool dripping on his face. Tears? Whose?_

_Peter screaming._

_“No I can’t lose you. Not you too, please! The ambulance is coming, I can hear it Mr. Stark you have to stay awake for them, they’re coming. Oh God no I can’t do this again.” Tony’s heart is breaking, Peter sounds like he’s in so much pain, he wishes he could save him._

_He won’t stop screaming._

_Tony tries to speak but his mouth doesn’t move._

_Peter keeps screaming._

Tony grunts, letting Peter wrap a careful arm around his waist and pull the other over his shoulder. “You shouldn’t be here either kid.”

Peter ducks his head, trying to hide his clenched jaw but Tony sees it anyway. “I’m going to take you back to Medbay. You’ll be safe there.” 

His eyes flick around the skyline with the fear of the hunted, Peter’s fingers unconsciously gripping Tony tighter. Tony knows the signs. Hell, he’s experienced most of them before lunch most days. He can see the anxiety wrapping its tendrils around Peter like chains. The heavy breathing, the paranoia, the hyperfixation of a world fading away. 

Tony sighs and wonders how many times a heart can squeeze before it bursts. “I know what you’re doing.” he says, and hopes it’ll help Peter open up.

“I’m taking you to Medbay. I told you that.” 

So no opening up then. 

Tony shakes his head, pulling away from Peter’s grip though the move makes him hiss as the pain convulses through him. “Come on Peter, don’t play with me.”

Peter’s eyes narrow. “Mr. Stark you have to-”

“Wasn’t I worth a goodbye?” Tony interrupts, watching as Peter freezes, looking afraid and sorry and trapped, “Before you went off to get yourself killed. Wasn’t I worth a goodbye?” 

_“Mr. Stark wait we can’t leave yet, we still have to go pick up those fancy napkin holder things Miss. Pepper wanted.”_

_Tony sighed. With extra drama. “You know, I grew up my whole life in an uptight house and I still don’t get what the point of those things are?”_

_Peter pulled his lip, “I mean…probably for the aesthetic?”_

_Tony looked like he wanted to argue but Peter beat him to it, “Mr. Stark it literally doesn’t even matter because if Miss. Pepper wants it then you’re obviously going to get it so can we just go do it and then we can argue about it later?”_

_Tony’s nose curled, looking miffed, “Excuse you but…” Tony’s mouth kept moving but Peter couldn’t hear him at all._

_The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, his entire body screaming at him to notice something he couldn’t see yet. His stomach swooped inside him and instinctively, he looked at Tony, desperate to know he was okay. But his heart-rate was normal, his breathing steady. So not Tony. Good. Peter looked around, the world caught in slow motion as he struggled to sift through the millions of useless data bits as his senses kept blaring they were in danger._

_That’s when he heard it. The screech of car tires taking a hard turn and the sound of a window rolling down. The world blurs around him. Peter sees the gun. He sees its target. The world goes silent around him. Instinct takes over. Peter bolts. His hands reach for Tony. An explosion. Two. Three. Four. Five. Concrete explodes behind him. A grunt. A sickening smell. Tony falls to his knees. The car drives off. Peter sees the license plate. He sees the man in the driver’s seat. He watches until he can’t see them anymore. His heart is beating so loud._

_And then all he sees is Tony._

_Three holes ripped right through him._

_Peter can’t hear his heartbeat._

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Peter mutters, refusing to look at him but though Tony’s weak, hobbled by his wounds, and barely able to think straight from the medications pumped through his veins, his voice is as commanding as it always is.

“Look at me Peter.” And Peter looks. Because he can’t ever say no. 

Not to him.

“You’re better than this.” Tony’s eyes hold no room for error, and he stands tall, grounded by the power truth gives him. “You’re not the revenge type.” 

Peter snaps. He storms over to Tony, every step a bomb, his eyes a flurry of anger and disbelief. “They almost killed you.” There’s a bit of crazy in there, something so close to cracking Tony can’t bear it, “They _did_ kill you. You weren’t- you weren’t breathing.” Peter’s voice drops to a raspy whisper and Tony feels the weight of his anguish crush him.

“And I _saw_ them. I sensed them before they were even there and I- I was too slow. I couldn’t- I couldn’t do anything and it’s my fault and they- they-” Peter’s voice shakes and his fingers twist into his mask as his shoulders tremble, with rage or sadness Tony can’t tell, “They almost got you and next time they might get it right and I _can’t_ let that happen. I won’t fail this time. Not again.” Peter’s eyes are cold with an iron will, “I _won’t let them hurt you_.” 

Tony closes his eyes. 

Just for a second. 

He should’ve known this is what it was about. It’s what it was always about. “Peter.” he says, so softly Peter trembles, “It’s not your fault. What happened to me,” he takes a breath, not sure if he’s allowed to say what he’s going to say next, but knowing he has to do it anyway, “and what happened to your uncle, that wasn’t your fault either.” 

Peter breathes, sharp and pained, taking a step back. And Tony knows it hurts, he knows it on a visceral level, so he presses forward because of it. Some types of pain were important to move you forward. You had to rebreak a bone if it didn’t set right. It was the only way. 

“You uncle died because some asshole pulled the trigger. Not because of anything you did,” Peter opens his mouth but Tony holds up a hand, “ _or_ anything you didn’t do. You were a child who didn’t understand how their powers worked or what was happening. You did everything you could at the time.” Tony reaches out, holds both of Peter’s shoulders so he’s forced to look at him, “And when something happened again, you acted. You saved my life Peter. More assholes with guns came shooting, but you saved me.” 

Peter shakes his head, tears welling in his eyes as he tried to pull away, but Tony keeps his grip firm. “N-no. No you still got hurt because of- because-”

“ _Not_ because of you. If it weren’t for you, I’d have five bullet wounds in my heart and not just in my arm and side.” Tony’s voice picks up and the wind blows through, bringing an unforgiving chill. “Your hands were made for saving people, not hurting them.” he says, and Peter didn’t know something so quiet could be so powerful. 

Peter flinches, the tears rolling down his cheeks harder. “You’re better than the kinds of people who go out looking to cause suffering. Revenge isn’t a good path kid.” Tony’s lips curl up in a wry smile, “I would know.” He says quietly. “It eats you up inside and makes you do things you never thought you could do. I won’t have that for you.” 

“Those men almost _killed_ you. And they’re still out there.” Peter insists, shaking and shaking.

“And we’ll find them. The people in charge of this stuff will find them. But you attacking them won’t change what happened, it’ll just change you.” 

And Peter sobs. 

“I can’t.” Peter gasps. “I can’t- I can’t.” and he gives in, falling forward so he’s hunched into Tony’s embrace, crying into his shirt. 

Tony’s arms around him are strong. They hold him and remind Peter of what it was like to be young. To be shielded from everything. “I can’t lose you Mr. Stark. You asked me before, if you were worth a goodbye and how could you say that?” his sobs wrack through him, “You’re worth everything to me. _Everything_.” his voice wobbles and though he’s muffled by his tears, he knows Tony hears him because his arms wrap around him tighter and he ducks his head atop of his.

“I’m still here Peter.” He presses Peter’s head to the left of the reactor and strokes his hair. Peter can hear Tony’s heartbeat. Weaker than before. But still there. Still pumping. “I’m alive because you saved me.” 

“I’m sorry.” Peter sobs, horrified and sad and terribly grateful someone had caught him before he fell, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay Peter. We’re okay. We’re going to be okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Now that I wrote this, I kind of love the concept of Peter going a little dark as revenge for Tony, and now I wanna write a full length story of this--- another wip on my big list of them i guess, joyy


End file.
